Digital coupons ‘close the deal’ for 80 percent of consumers

In a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of RetailMeNot, the majority of consumers said digital coupons were more likely to influence their purchase decision than any other type of promotion.

Note that coupons are way more influential than sales. That’s crazy. Maybe that’s because people view sales as a discount on items the store wants to sell versus items they want to buy. A 40% off one item coupon gets me that pricey item I’ve been longing for. A 40% off summer clothes only gets me a good deal on the leftovers. (Not always true but I’m trying to work through the thought process.)

“The State of Digital Coupons” study makes coupons sound like the superheros of the ecommerce world. Let’s all remember that RetailMeNot is a coupon / promo code site. . . and with that in mind we’ll look at a few more facts.

Fact: Digital coupons increase customer loyalty

68% of consumers in the survey said that digital coupons have a postitive impact on a brand and they encourage customer loyalty. I know that’s true for me. I stopped shopping at Fresh and Easy because they stopped their digital coupon program. They used to get $75 minus a $5 coupon twice a month. Now, they’ve saved themselves $10 but they lost $140 in revenue.

Here’s the real irony:

Fact: Consumers are likely to spend more when redeeming digital coupons from smartphones

I’m sure there are people who do their best not to spend a dime more than they have to in order to redeem a coupon. But the majority of people say they end up spending more than they planned on spending when they have a digital coupon. Not just a few dollars more. 44% say they spent $26 to $50 more!

Fact: Digital coupons are the key to combating cart abandonment

64% of consumers said that a digital promo code or coupon is often enough to close the deal when they’re undecided about a purchase. I find myself in that spot at least once a week. If I can’t find a code to knock off at least 20% or all of the shipping, I’m likely to walk away. This behavior is going to increase as we move into the holiday season when free shipping becomes an even bigger issue.

Fact: Digital coupons push people to shop now instead of later

Consumers in the study said that they redeemed most coupons within a few days of receiving it. To be fair, most coupons will expire if you don’t use them within a few days so it’s more of a do or don’t situation but that’s still a good thing for retailers.

91% of desktop users redeem a digital coupon within several days

More than 90% of smartphone and tablet users redeem their digital coupons within several days

Nearly one-third of coupons found on smartphones or tablets are redeemed immediately

Nearly 30% of consumers used a digital coupon immediately upon receiving the offer

Bottom line: giving your customers a few dollars off puts more dollars in your pocket.